"Donkey One"
By Dr. Mickey Anders
South Elkhorn Christian Church
Lexington, Kentucky
March 28, 2010

Text: Luke 19:28-40 

One of the most important and powerful people in all the world is called among private circles, "POTUS." Do you know who POTUS is? P. O. T. U. S. stands for President of the United States. 

I want you to imagine that this, the most powerful person in the world is preparing to take a trip to Lexington, Kentucky. He would turn to his chief of staff and say, "I want you to go to Andrews Air Force Base, and there you will find a large airplane with distinctive blue and white coloring and the words, 'United States of America.' Go to the person in charge and say, 'The President needs this plane.'"

Such a statement would set in motion an incredible series of events. A helicopter would fly across Washington D. C. and land on the lawn of the White House. Soldiers would snap to attention, dressed in their finish dress uniforms. Amid pomp and circumstance, the President would step aboard for the short ride to Andrews Air Force Base to board Air Force One.

This is not an ordinary airplane! It is built on a frame of a 747, but the Air Force calls it a VC-25. It has an amazing array of electronics so that the President can carry on the business of the nation while in flight. The plane has a maximum speed of 725 mph and can travel 6,800 miles without refueling. 
In case of emergency, a medical room on board is stocked with a pharmacy, an X-ray machine and an operating table — and is staffed with a full-time surgeon. There are two galleys staffed by five chefs who can serve meals for up to 100 people at a time.

Before the President ever lands in Air Force One, all kinds of preparations have taken place on the ground. Secret Service agents would swarm over Lexington interviewing everyone who had an appointment with the President, and they would examine the route to be taken to make sure all security issues were taken care of. 

A few days earlier, a C-5A cargo plane would arrive with all of the vehicles necessary for a motorcade. There would be motorcycles, cars, and a fully equipped ambulance. There would be two armored limousines. One is sometimes used as a decoy. 

On many occasions, there are two identical planes in case one is needed for a back-up. But only one of those is called Air Force One - the one that the President actually boards. That is what happens when the most powerful and important person in the world travels almost anywhere.

That kind of thing has been taking place with political leaders all throughout history. In the time in which the Bible was written a similar thing happened. 

Imagine that Caesar Augustus, the emperor of Rome, is preparing to enter Jerusalem. He would say to his chief of staff, "I want you to go down to the stables, and you will find there a magnificent war horse. It will be a white stallion that will impress and amaze all the people when I ride it into town. Tell the person in charge that the emperor needs it."

He will be surrounded by chariots gleaming in their finest with armies marching with him. If they are returning from successful battle, prisoners will be marched into town. It is all a carefully orchestrated event to show what a powerful and important person the emperor is.

Our story for today tells us about the one that we call the King of Kings. He is entering Jerusalem, but there is something wrong with this picture.

The Gospels have a way of telling a story where there is always something out of place, and that thing that is out of place is the point of the story.

Jesus told a story about a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. On his way, he was waylaid by thieves who robbed him and beat him and left him for dead on the side of the road. Along the way comes some very prominent Jewish officials, but each of them passes by on the other side. Either of them would have been expected to be the hero of the story. But the person who finally turns aside and cares for this certain man was a hated Samaritan. Those who heard the story were shocked at the Samaritan.

Jesus tells a story about a rich man who has so much wealth and success - the kind of person that everyone admires. He had such a bumper crop that he had to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. But in Jesus' story this rich man dies and winds up in hell. The poor man Lazarus who had been begging on the doorsteps is in heaven. The people are out of place!

Jesus tells about two men who went into the Temple to pray. One of them was a Pharisee, a well-known religious figure, widely admired by everyone. He was outwardly religious in every way. But in the corner was a sinful publican, who prayed, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." Which one when home justified? Not the successful religious man, but the poor publican. Something is always out of place.

So the King of Kings is going to go to Jerusalem. He turns to his chief of staff and says, "I want you to go to the main street of the town, and you will find, not Air Force One, not War Stallion One, but Donkey One." How out of place that donkey is!

The people who had been following Jesus were filled with high expectations. This was the One! He had been preaching throughout Galilee and doing amazing things, preaching to vast crowds. The people thought, "This is our political leader." Israel was virtually a slave state under the thumb of Rome, and they yearned for their independence. They remembered the glory days of David, when Israel was a superpower, and they wanted to be that again. 

About 160 years before Christ, Judas Maccabaeus led a successful revolt against the Selucid Empire and Israel enjoyed 100 years of independence. There had been other rebels who had tried to rise against Rome, but they had always been unsuccessful. But this one they believed to be the Messiah.

One of the disciples was called Simon the Zealot. The zealots were a guerilla warfare group determined to overthrow Rome by force. 

All of the followers of Jesus were thinking politically. They knew that God wanted them to be an independent nation. They read the Old Testament and knew that God would be on their side and it didn't matter how big Rome was. All they needed was the right leader - the Messiah. It was God's will.

Even the disciples closest to Jesus thought this. James and John have just come to Jesus and asked, "When you come into your kingdom, can we sit on your right side and on your left side?" They thought his entry into Jerusalem was taking it to the seat of power. Their expectations are huge, and we can't understand Holy Week unless we understand those expectations and the disappointment that was to follow.

Jesus told his disciples to go get Donkey One. They must have thought, "Something is wrong with this picture." A donkey? It's a joke.

Do you know what the King James Version calls a donkey? It's a good honest word, but it is one that makes the fourth grade boys snicker on the back row. You can see why I didn't name this sermon the other name for Donkey One!

It was just that kind of joke to the disciples. A donkey? And not even a regular donkey, but one that "had never been ridden." And later the disciples would look back and think about the donkey that had never been ridden and the tomb that had never been used.

But Luke still weaves through his story-telling the fact that Jesus was a king. If someone asks the disciples about the donkey, they were to say, "The Lord needs it." Most of the time Jesus avoided that term Lord, but here he claims it. The events show that Jesus was in control of the events that were happening.

They brought the donkey to Jesus, placed their clothing on it for a saddle, and as was the custom with other kings, they cast their cloaks on the ground before him as he entered the city. 

And the crowd quoted Psalm 118, "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord." But Luke changes the wording to say, "Blessed is the KING who comes in the name of the Lord." He was a king, but one piece of the puzzle is off.

The Pharisees call upon Jesus to make his disciples stop. But Jesus replies, "I tell you, if these are silent, the stones will cry out." Luke says this is the King of Kings, but there is this odd piece of the puzzle.

Disciples preacher Fred Craddock says three things about this entry into Jerusalem. He says it was a parade that the people were familiar with. They had lined the streets for other political leaders. They knew the drill. Everybody loves a parade. But even the disciples did not understand Jesus. They enjoyed the parade, but they misunderstood who Jesus was. It was a parade.

Fred Craddock says it was a protest. It was no accident that there was a donkey. Jesus did this on purpose. He came as a king of peace and not a king of war. His kingship was entirely different from the domination system of Rome, which rules by power and by force. Jesus was the kind of king that said, "If you want to be great, you must be servant of all." He taught, not a political power, but servant leadership. He was a new kind of king, and this was a protest against Rome.

He came preaching the kingdom of God, by which he meant, "What would the world look like if God were king and Caesar were not?" What would the world look like if God were in charge?

Fred Craddock says it was a funeral procession. Everybody else expected things to go well, but Jesus had predicted his death three times already. The disciples never understood this. Jesus knew things were not going to turn out like the disciples thought. He knew he had confronted the powers of domination. Jesus knew it was a funeral procession.

If we are to experience Easter, we must go through the roller coaster of Holy Week. We come today and wave our palm branches and proclaim Hozanna, but like those who were so disappointed in that first century. We too must experience the let down of Holy Week. That's why it is important to come to worship on Maundy Thursday and remember the passion. That's why our hymns change in this service from "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name" to "Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley." Holy Week is a time to cheer and a time to weep.